Tri-block copolymers can serve as scaffolds and templates for a vast number of novel and useful nanostructures. Resonant soft x-ray scattering at the ALS, a unique, powerful tool for examining complex, multi-component systems, has revealed a new phase of ABC tri-block copolymer with complicated morphology.Read more...

How a clamp loader, a molecular machine that facilities DNA replication, accomplishes its task of attaching a ring-shaped clamp to a DNA strand has been unknown at the structural level. New structures obtained at the ALS of clamp-loader complexes in action clarify the mechanism of DNA replication.Read more...

Corie Ralston has been appointed as Head of the Berkeley Center for Structural Biology (BCSB). Ralston joined BCSB, which runs five of the crystallography beamlines at the ALS, as a staff scientist in 2002 and took on the larger role of operations manager five years ago. While Ralston will definitely keep a hand in the crystallography research she's been doing, her work balance will shift more toward user relations and funding development. Her new position entails managing a group of 12 employees and a budget of $3 million. Read more...

Howard Padmore, the ALS Division Deputy for Experimental Systems (ESG) provides an overview of the group's current and planned projects as part of its mission to assist researchers working on ESG-supported beamlines, to develop the technical infrastructure needed to carry out this work, and to help develop new applications of synchrotron radiation primarily through the development of new techniques. A particular focus of the group's work is in x-ray microscopy and in the application of many techniques to the challenges in energy sciences. Read more...

On May 21, James (Jim) Floyd, the ALS EH&S Program Manager, was awarded the Director's Award for Exceptional Achievement in Safety. The Director's Award is designed to recognize the achievements of employees advancing the Lab's mission and strategic goals. Floyd, a familiar and friendly face to users and staff around the ALS, was credited with "Accomplishments and leadership in promoting a safety culture." View other award recipients or visit the ALS Awards page for more information about this and other awards to ALS users and staff.

Berkeley Lab Scientists Kevin Wilson (left) and Oliver Gessner (right) have been selected from a nationwide pool of more than 800 applicants to receive research awards from the DOE's Early Career Research Program. Overseen by the DOE's Office of Science, the Early Career Program provides crucial financial support to top researchers in their formative career stages. In Gessner and Wilson's cases, the award will serve as a rare opportunity for both scientists to delve deeper into their work and craft well-rounded research programs. Wilson's work will focus on the fate of hydrocarbons in the environment, while Gessner will concentrate his research on molecular electronic function. Read more...

ALS User, and User Services Group Leader, Elected to NUFO Management

Yves Idzerda, ALS user from Montana State University, and a member of the ALS Users' Executive Committee and the Proposal Study Panel, was recently elected vice-chair of the NUFO Steering Committee; he will become chair in 2013. User Services Group Leader Sue Bailey will serve as vice-coordinator.

NUFO represents the interests of all users who conduct research at U.S. national scientific user facilities. The primary mission is to facilitate communication among users, user organizations, facility administrators, and other stakeholders to provide a unified message at the national level on issues of resources for science, economic competitiveness, and education for the next-generation scientific workforce. Users are encouraged to contact Yves or Sue, or view the NUFO Web pages, for more information about the organization's activities.

Events

NGLS@Noon, Friday, June 15, User Support Building, 15-253John Spence, University of Arizona

Low Energy Electrodynamics in Solids (LEES 2012)July 22-27, 2012, Napa, CALEES 2012 will be a forum for the interdisciplinary discussion of the low-energy

electrodynamics of solids, at both the theoretical and experimental level.

ALS User Meeting - Save the Date!October 8-10, 2012, Berkeley, CA

UEC Corner

User Meeting Awards

Please consider nominating a colleague for a User Meeting Award. The awards and the nominating procedures are described here. The nomination packages are due the first week in September. More details will be announced soon by the Awards Committee Co-Chairs, Adam Hitchcock and Yves Idzerda.

Long Shutdown in Early 2013

The ALS is planning for a two-to three-month shutdown in early 2013 for a series of upgrades and maintenance work. While the exact start and end dates are not yet available, ALS management and UEC members thought users might want to know as soon as possible about the longer than usual shutdown.

For the user runs from April 16 to May 14, 2012, the beam reliability [(time scheduled - time lost)/time scheduled)] was 98.9%. For this period, the mean time between failures (MTBF) was 100.9 hours, and the mean time to recovery (MTTR) was 87 minutes. There were no significant interruptions.